


Winning Isn't Everything

by leontina (Leontina)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 06:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8521288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leontina/pseuds/leontina
Summary: For date night, Harry takes Draco to a Muggle bowling alley for the first time.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Lauren3210 as a gift on HD-Owlfest over on LJ :D

Harry linked arms with Draco, guiding him through the carpark towards the Muggle bowling alley. Their breath was freezing in the air, and Harry welcomed the comforting warmth of the bowling alley once they stepped inside.

Draco and Harry had been dating for just over a month now, and this time it was Harry’s turn to pick the location. He’d fancied doing something Muggle for a change, and going bowling was something he’d always wanted to do.

Dudley’s eighth birthday party had been at a bowling alley, but Vernon told Harry that there were only six players on a team and Dudley had five friends with him so Harry couldn’t join in. When Harry has asked if he could join his aunt and uncle at their lane, they insisted he had to stay with the boys. Harry had been miserable sat watching, but he thought the game looked like great fun.

“What is this place?” Draco hissed in Harry’s ear as they joined the queue for the reception desk. “The decor is positively garish.”

Harry had to admit that Draco had a point. The carpet was made up of a swirling pattern in green, red and yellow, while vibrant pink and blue lights lit up the lanes not far in front of them—just as Harry remembered it. 

“It’s not meant to be stylish,” Harry said, shooting Draco a grin. “People come here to have fun; it’s lively.”

“You say lively; I say garish,” Draco snorted. 

“One game, please,” Harry told the receptionist once it was their turn. 

He handed over the Muggle money, trying not to laugh as Draco stared at the paper notes for what was probably the first time in his life. 

“You need to give your shoes over now,” Harry instructed, walking round to the other side of the desk to the shoe exchange. “You have to wear special bowling shoes while we’re here.”

Draco stared at Harry incredulously. “Hand my shoes over?! These are fine leather all the way from Milan! They cost more than the staff here probably make in a year.”

Harry was pleased to note that no staff seemed to have overheard Draco.

“You get them back again,” Harry said gently. “There’s a special type of flooring or something, so it’s better to wear the shoes they designed.”

“Fine,” Draco huffed, toeing off his shoes and placing them on the desk. He told the worker his size, and promptly gasped when he was offered his bowling shoes in return—clunky trainers which were half red and half blue. “These are ghastly!”

Both Harry and the worker snorted.

“I think they’re supposed to be,” Harry said, giving the worker an apologetic smile. “Nobody’s going to steal them looking like that, are they?”

“I should think not,” Draco muttered disdainfully. He grabbed Harry’s arm and leant in close to his ear as they walked to their lane. “I hope in return for me having to wear these, I get to see you wearing nothing later.”

Harry felt his face flush, and Draco gave him a triumphant smirk. 

“Beat me at bowling,” Harry said, lowering his own voice. “And you can win more than just me naked.”

Draco grinned. “Oh, it’s on, Potter.”

Draco’s attention was immediately drawn to the computer screen when they got to their lane, and prodded at the screen with his finger. 

“What is this?” Draco asked, glancing up at the screen above their heads and then back to the computer. “I don’t understand.”

Harry brushed Draco’s hand aside, getting to grips with the touchscreen a lot more quickly than Draco had. 

“See here?” Harry said. “We put in our names and the screen above us will keep track of our scores. We can also put up bumpers so the ball doesn’t go into the gutter.”

He pointed to the dip at each side of the bowling lane. 

“I don’t need bumpers,” Draco said quickly. “I’ll understand if you do, though, Harry; your eyesight isn’t as good as mine, after all.”

“I’m sorry, which of us is the better Seeker?” Harry retorted teasingly. “I’ll leave the bumpers down for both of us.”

Harry went first, selecting one of the mid-weighted balls. He glanced at the bowlers next to him, mimicked their sweeping arm movement and released the ball...which promptly rolled straight into the gutter. 

Draco let out a loud laugh, and Harry turned around to give him the finger. A woman on the lane next to them glared at Harry as she ushered her child back to their seats, which only made Draco laugh harder. 

“You get two goes on each turn,” Harry murmured, choosing a slightly heavier ball. 

If Harry had thought that would fix the problem he was very much mistaken, as his next bowl went the same way as the first. 

“You try and do better,” Harry huffed to a grinning Draco.

The grin was soon wiped off Draco’s face when both of his goes also ended with two gutter balls.

Draco collapsed on the seat beside Harry, and they both sat in still silence for a moment.

“Bumpers up?” they both suggested at the same time.

They grinned, and Harry quickly updated the screen to make the game easier for them. 

The good thing about bumpers, Harry learnt, was that it was quite fun to make the bowling ball bounce off them from side to side until it hit the pins.

“Eight points isn’t so bad,” Harry commented after his turn, glancing up at the screen. “I’m beating your zero.”

“What happens if you knock them all down in your first turn?” Draco asked.

“You get extra points, I think,” Harry said. “It’s called a strike. I bet I get one before you.”

“No, I’ve got this now the bumpers are up,” Draco said confidently. “I look ridiculous but I’m still a winner.”

“Definitely a winner,” Harry teased when Draco finished his turn with a score of six. 

As the game went on, it became obvious that they were pretty equally matched at bowling. Both of them had turns at being in the lead, but only by a very small number of points. The closeness of the game only made them more competitive—in a friendly way, of course. 

It seemed to suit them having something harmless to fight each other for; Harry noticed he was definitely more relaxed on this date, and Draco seemed to be too. 

Until Draco got the first strike, and Harry knew then that the game was really on.

“You only have three more turns to get a strike,” Draco taunted lightly. “I hope you were paying attention to how I did it.”

“I tried,” Harry said, sighing dramatically. “But I was just too distracted by those ghastly shoes you were wearing.”

Draco sat next to Harry, placing a hand on Harry’s thigh as he leaned into his ear and whispered, “fuck you, Potter.”

Harry wasn’t deterred. “Maybe later, if you win.”

In the end, Draco did win—though Harry insisted it was because he had let Draco win, and not at all to do with Harry’s lack of skill, definitely not. There had only been three points between them anyway, so it wasn’t really a _win_ , and Harry wasn’t bothered about having to wear weird-looking bowling shoes so he was probably the better player anyway. 

“You’re cute when you’re sulking,” Draco teased, throwing his arm around Harry’s shoulder and pulling him close to kiss Harry’s cheek. 

Harry’s slight grouchiness at losing faded at Draco’s touch. “Yeah, well, beginner’s luck; I’ll beat you next time.”

“You’re on, Potter,” Draco grinned. “Now what was it we were saying earlier? Something about you wearing no clothes…”

Harry grinned back. Despite Draco’s minor complaints at the start of the night, Harry thought that they had both enjoyed themselves a lot—and would continue to enjoy themselves very soon. 

Harry couldn’t wait until he showed Draco how to play Monopoly.


End file.
